This is my son in this video and, I am proudly a Veteran’s Mom. For 13 years, I was a Marine Mom. My heart and soul were on the battle field, as my son’s life was on the line day after day fighting to protect the liberty and freedom of our great nation. One time he called me and said: “Mom, I am so tired of being shot at, day after day. I have an enemy I don’t even know, that wants to kill me, a person they don’t even know. This enemy is ruthless and I will do everything it takes to keep them here, so they never make it to the shores of the United States. This enemy does not value life, they kill steal and destroy, this is all they know. We fight over here, so far away from our beloved country to protect our people from an enemy so ruthless as this one. I am so grateful my country is safe from an enemy such as this one, an enemy that does not value life.”
My son, loved and was willing to lay down his life for our nation. I know he still loves our nation. For 13 years, He laid it all out for this country, deployment after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan and all over the world, fighting to protect and defend our liberty, to protect and defend Americans, and he did it excellently with courage and honor. Because he led with honorable moment to choice excellence, our country invested much in his training and he had many opportunities to use his training to save Americans and protect our freedom. He took every opportunity the Marine Corps offered him to protect and defend the people of the United States of America. I could not be prouder of him and his many years of service. It makes me sad to see him struggle so much, body, soul and spirit from the ravages of war. I am very grateful for the “Wounded Veterans Relief Fund” and ask that you would donate to help Veterans. This Organization has helped my son and so many other Veterans who deserve to get that break-through they need.
Wounded in body, my son, made the choice to stay with his troops until his body could no longer function and he had to leave his unit in theatre. This was the type of soldier he was. I called it a “Tender Warrior” and I believed these were the best kind of warriors, fierce in battle, yet under all that body armor they were tender in heart. He always made the right choices, even if it was the hard choice, and it always ended in making the most difference that could be made. He is still like that today, even though his heart took a big hit when he felt betrayed by His Commander and Chief. Even though he was wounded, he still fought to be relevant in the Marine Corps and He made his way to an underground bunker where he could be used to communicate with the troops on the ground. This was truly a perfect way to use his skills and experiential knowledge. He did so well there. But then the tragedy of “politics over people” stole from him. President Obama decided to set ridiculous unmeetable goals for drawing down the size of our troops. He had other things he wanted to use the money for and he did not want to invest in our troops. So, he commanded that they begin with the wounded, to medically retire them. President Obama set forth a new administrative rule that you could not change your MOS if you were wounded and that was the beginning of the end for my son
My son lost his career in the Marine Corps because of a politics over people decision. Politics corrupted knows no power higher than self, it makes unwise choices and it dehumanizes people. So suddenly, my son, one that our government had dumped thousands and thousands of dollars into his training, became a number to be lowered. Makes no sense at all, but that is what happens when the leaders of our nation bow to political idols, they sacrifice all common sense and compassion to that idol. My son received orders to be medially retired, even though he was making a huge difference at the time in the war strategy. His commanding officer went up the chain to try to save his job, because he had transformed the place he was asked to serve and was really needed. But, it did not matter because the Commander and Chief, Obama was all about numbers, not people, all about the corrupted politics of moving money to the policies that mattered most to him. This decision dehumanized and that is what corrupt politics does, it breaks the spirit of people, it is a decision of politics over people. Yet, the Spirit Of Liberty still lives on in this USA Marine.
My son was all in with His career in the United States Marines and was crushed by the decision to medically retire him. He called me the day he was told and he said: “Mom, everything I have done for this country, my identity as a United States Marine, all I have ever wanted to be, it is gone, done.” He felt like he had been betrayed by a President he had served excellently, and felt like all he was came down to a number that needed to be drawn down. Every sacrifice he had made, every battle won to preserve the liberty of this nation and now this, he was just a number to be discarded because he was wounded and still recovering. Many Veterans have similar stories. Laid it all out on the battle field for liberty and justice for all, to preserve the freedom of a nation who has now forgotten them.
My son did a lot of secret missions. Before he went out on a secret mission that he might not come back from, he would always call me and ask for prayer. He would say: “Mom, I have a very dangerous “training mission” coming up, will you pray for me.” I knew, Marine Mom’s always knew when their son was saying goodbye in that way he could without breaking the secrecy of the mission. He was wounded on one of those “training missions” and spent six weeks in Germany in a hospital all alone. He could not tell us he had been wounded because his secret mission was still on going One day I got a phone call. “Mom, can you come pick me up at the base, I am flying in on a medical transport and I can’t be released unless someone comes to pick me up.” I drove 14 hours straight to the base. I was told to wait by this window until someone came and got me. I watched the plane come in and the soldiers being taken off the plane stretcher by stretcher, my heart was broken. My son came off pretty much as one of the last ones, in a wheel chair. I wanted to run out onto that tarmac but I knew I would not make it too far before I was stopped.
My son came home, and is still dealing with his injuries from war. Our family was so happy that he lived, and you feel so sad for those who did not. But, as time went on, we realized that his soul was still over there, he never really came back. His soul died over there. He was back in wounded body, but not soul, he was not the same. He battled and battled to find his place as a civilian, he worked so hard to make a way to normalcy, but even now, the struggle of PTSD is real and the medical recovery has never let up. So, he continues, this wounded warrior, to fight for his body and soul to be healed. One of my most precious memories as a US Marine Mom was getting to drive him home after he came home wounded after an intense battle in one of his many deployments. We had a neighborhood of family and community ready to surprise him and experience him meeting his son for the first time, a son who was born during his war deployment. I know some of you can’t even begin to imagine what these hero’s do for our country. Here is that precious memory of my son, meeting his son for the first time.
My son, the “tender warrior” still battles to be the best he can be, even though he suffers so much body, soul and spirit from the ravages of war. He was wounded when an IED was remotely detonated… what kind of enemy fights so fiendishly without the courage of a face to face fight, but with the trickery of a behind the scenes remote detonation, such sick, evil people. This is the evil these United States Marines fought against in a foreign land, to keep it from coming to our shores. My son was thrown by the concussion of the remotely detonated IED about 200 yards into his vehicle and sustained so many injuries, which he has had way too many surgeries to try to fix. He is facing another surgery soon. He has lived in physical pain for years; this is his spoils of war. Yet, there are amazing people out there that take the time to encourage and honor our veterans and for them, this Veteran’s Mom is grateful.
Soul wounds are the greatest pain and unfortunately a soldier has many of those. The hardest one to bear, was a soul wound inflicted by President Obama, his own Commander and chief. President Obama in his 8 years in office never put his troops first, they were always second to his political agenda. This rejection and betrayal happened to my son, when after 13 years of incredible service, President Obama, decided to draw the troop sizes down, to lower the number of troops to cut the defensive budget so he could allocate the money to some of his political agenda and he started with the wounded, those who could not carry out their MOS.
Therefore, my son was medically discharged, against his will. Even though he was actively working in an underground bunker, truly making a difference in the war effort, he was let go. My son even had a General fight for him, took it almost to the top of the chain, but was said NO, you can’t keep him because President Obama had made a new regulation that you could not change your MOS if you were injured. He is wounded, he has to go. How cruel is that? He was making a huge difference where he had been placed in his recovery, even being wounded, he had found a way to serve excellently and made a huge difference for the betterment of the unit he was placed in to recover.
It made no sense, this highly decorated and trained US Marine, who wanted to stay in and serve his country and was making a difference, had to go, to draw the troop numbers down because that was what President Obama wanted. This is the soul wound my US Marine is still recovering from and a betrayal that is triggered every now and again. But, my son, he still has that courageous serving spirit, an excellent patriotism that through all of what he has grown through, just does not give up and die, and gives his time to many Veterans organizations, like Wounded Veterans Relief Fund and Forgotten Soldiers, that meet the needs of those overseas still fighting and those here still fighting to recover. The American spirit is never held down by Poo-Poo-Politics and it will rise up again to meet the challenge of a new day. Remember A Veteran Today! Honor Them.
The family reunions on the tarmac after the buses unloaded, you can’t even begin to understand the joy. Life experiences in a military family, really changed me and shaped me, especially growing through my son’s forced medical retirement. As a Veteran’s Mom, this is the kind of politics I fight against, with the raw political power of my vote and my voice of truth; people over politics, it steals, kills and destroys and its decisions dehumanizes people, devalues people and makes the lives of “we the people” very hard. Our current President Donald Trump is a people over politics President and He has done much to increase the life value of our Veterans and our Military. One of my favorite days of the year is Veteran’s Day, because it adds value to our Veterans. God bless them.
People Over Politics! How much we despise this kind of leadership. This kind of politics does not serve people like politics is supposed to do, it serves agenda and policy over people. This kind of politics over people agenda, rejected a soldier, a warrior who was wounded, but was still able to fight the good fight of liberty, justice and defending of our freedom for all. This kind of people over politics will not stomp out the spirit of American Patriotism. Do not underestimate the spirit of Americans, we may be down, but we will rise up, you can’t keep the American Spirit at bay, we will fight for truth, liberty, and justice, this is the American Way, the way of freedom.
Thank you for stopping in the Military Table in The Bridegroom’s Café. I am still a Military Mom as my Son-in-law and my daughter and our grandkids serve overseas. We are so proud of them. We miss them terribly, but we know they are right where God has placed them, serving our country with excellence in a time such as this. They have had an excellent Commander In Chief, President Donald Trump, who has done so much for them, who cares for them like no other President, uniquely has. We are grateful for this Commander In Chief, a people over politics President, all of our lives have been better under the service of His Administration. God Bless America And Keep Her Flag Flying Free. KimberlyMac